SBFC Foundation Intern Training

Lochsa Historic Ranger Station

What a week! We have officially completed our intern training based at the beautiful Lochsa Historic Ranger Station, a setting fit for a mountain yoga retreat. We began our training as Wilderness Ranger Interns in Missoula, MT where we participated in a heated discussion about the meanings of the Wilderness Act. After this, we rounded ourselves up and shipped off down Highway 12 to our home for the week at the Lochsa Historic Station. Each morning we would rise, participate in a rejuvenating yoga session, and split up in to groups of two or three with our wilderness partners for station based trainings. The stations included tread-digging and brushing, stock packing, crosscut saw and axe use, noxious weed identification, campsite monitoring training, campsite preparation, and a colorful history of the Selway Bitterroot Wilderness by the one and only Jim Renshaw.

I cannot even begin to describe how much I learned this week, not only about the job, but also about the delightful and committed folks that make the SBFC Foundation run, as well as the SBFC Trail Crew and my fellow Wilderness Ranger Interns. One of our last evenings the Lochsa Historic Station mob scrubbed ourselves up a bit, piled into the MCC vehicles, and trekked to River Dance – a scenic restaurant located on the shores of the Selway River. Here we had the opportunity to meet the board members of the SBFC Foundation, as well as indulge in one of the most savory meals of the summer. As the sun set I couldn’t help but to get a little sappy – what a lucky group of people we all are to get the opportunities to work and live in one of the most breath-taking places I have ever experienced. And all thanks to the people who love, and have loved, this area as much as we do. While I am sad to say ‘so long’ to the majority of these friends for the summer, I as energized and excited to apply all of my new skills in the field. Cheers to a summer of beauty and hard work!

~ Taryn Schreiner